


Cornered

by temptresslove



Series: Power Couple [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Complete, M/M, Oneshot, Power Couple Tom and Harry, Pureblood Heirs, Romance, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 08:30:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17618972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/temptresslove/pseuds/temptresslove
Summary: Harry had tried, adorably, to charm Tom into being one of the endless string of admirers the Gryffindor had—fluttering his eyelashes shyly, blushing like a maiden, and unable to meet Tom’s eyes.Tom flashed him a smile, and said, “That won’t work on me.”And he saw the omega drop all his pretenses, red not from blushing but from anger, and pointed at Tom with all the force of a 5’3 omega. “Andthat,” he said looking at Tom’s charming smile scathingly. “Won’t work on me."





	Cornered

They were alone. The door completely shut behind Harry with a spell of his own making. Tom knew Harry graduated at the top of his class, Dumbledore’s very own favorite when the man all but distrusted Tom. But here was his Gryffindor golden child, alone with Tom in a sealed room, a small smirk at his lips at having caught Tom alone. Again.

Tom made a quick calculation in his head. It would take about thirty seconds to find out the properties of the omega’s invented spell. And another thirty to completely undo it.

“ _Oops_ ,” Harry said not a least bit sorry. “Now, what will daddy say?” He said mockingly, knowing James would throw a fit when he found out Harry was alone with an alpha.

Tom lifted an eyebrow. “What do you want, Harry?”

The omega smirked taking a step towards Tom. “What do you think I want, Tom?”

The darling of Gryffindor, they called him… can do no wrong and perfect in everyone’s eyes.

Perhaps he was a bit too much like Tom, whose real persona hid behind his charming smile and his unfailingly good manners.

But even now, when Tom saw the real Harry, the side of him he only revealed to Tom so openly, it surprised him how easily the omega could switch from the perfect pureblood omega facade to… _this—_ back straight, eyes filled with mischief, and a smirk that _screamed_ confidence. 

It was only a minute ago when Harry was blushing as he talked to Tom in front of the other politicians. And now he was here, shamelessly looking at Tom as if being alone with him in an empty room without a chaperone would not result into the biggest scandal Britain would ever hear of.

“If you do not unlock this door, I will besmirch your honor, _Omega,_ ” he threatened.

Harry only laughed, but Tom saw him shiver. Perhaps even this confidence was an act.

“We hate each other,” Harry said, head tilting and the tone of his going up in the last word as if he was asking Tom.

“Obviously,” he drawled sarcastically.

“And yet…” Harry took a step closer to Tom, a move that forced him to look up at Tom’s tall frame. Tom looked down at him arrogantly. The omega was always so small. Yet so mischievous. “When I do this…” Harry stood on his tip toes, inching closer to Tom who leaned into him as if by instinct. Then Harry smirked. “See?”

“See what?” Tom asked, amused.

“For a man who graduated with the highest marks in Hogwarts, you are awfully daft, Tom,” Harry mocked. “Let me make it clearer then.”

Suddenly, the omega’s left hand went to the scent blockers on his neck, ripping them off in one swift movement. Then he looked at Tom. “I’m too tired of waiting.” He said simply as his scent filled the room. The alpha took a step back.

“ _Harry,”_ he warned, a low growl escaping his throat. “You are playing a _dangerous_ game.”

Harry only looked at him blankly. “Who says I am even playing?” The omega’s eyes sharpened as he took yet another step towards Tom. _“Defile_ me, Alpha _.”_

He was pushed against a wall before he even knew it, the alpha’s eyes dangerously dark. “And you think I am?” he whispered darkly in Harry’s ear. “We will do this _properly_ , I do not want a stain on your honor when I finally take you as mine.”

Harry shivered at the promise. “Make it fast,” he demanded, impatient.

Tom looked at the eager omega and smirked. “You have no idea what I’ve got planned, Harry.”

“Oh?” Harry asked excited. “Daddy is a bit picky about courting gifts, Tom… I don’t suppose—"

“ _Relax_ ,” Tom said, a predatory grin on his face that suddenly made Harry feel submissive.

“So you will come by our house tomorrow?” Harry said through the daze that was already affecting his mind, not quite believing that this was going better than he hoped it would.

“And utterly waste the opportunity of having Rita Skeeter see the whole thing?” Tom asked smugly, and Harry’s eyes widened.

“You _bastard_ ,” he said excitedly. “You really did plan this out,” an appreciative purr escaped Harry’s mouth. “What do you want me to do? 

“Blush prettily, like you always do,” Tom whispered against his ear, chuckling. “And say yes, _shyly_.”

Harry giggled. “I can do that.”

* * *

It had always been inevitable, this attraction between them.

Harry remembered the first time he saw Tom Riddle, who all but lounged at the Slytherin table, commanding the attention of all his peers, respected and admired, making eating _fried chicken_ look so dignified. 

Harry kept stealing glances at him, an alpha, _surely_ , he thought. The way he held himself dripping with absolute authority, and his movements confident, secure…

Harry had been intrigued.

Until he caught the alpha looking utterly unimpressed when he cried in front of Headmaster Dippet to get a higher grade. 

Harry had cornered him that day at the library, knowing full well the Slytherin liked spending his free time reading because Harry did that too and tried working his charm on the alpha.

Tom Riddle had smiled at him charmingly, baring perfectly white teeth, and without so much of a preamble said, “That won’t work on me.”

And not used to not getting what he wanted, Harry instantly seethed, forgoing all his cutesy pretentious innocence. “And _that_ —“ he motioned towards Tom’s charming smile. “—Won’t work on me,” he hissed.

Then Tom Riddle laughed, the sort of laugh that Harry knew—made him the most adored man in Hogwarts—chased by witches and omegas alike, respected and envied by other boys and other alphas. 

Harry didn’t like it. 

He was the one who was usually adored. Even when he was still in Beauxbatons, he had everyone wrapped around his little finger… and not one should had seen right through him. But Tom had. Without even talking to him.

He stormed out of the library utterly furious and blushing from embarrassment. No one had treated him that way before.

Ever since then the alpha had taken the time to look at Harry with that teasing glint his eye every time Harry faked a blush or spoke softly to someone. It was incredibly annoying.

And Harry couldn’t exactly do it to him because his facade required constant effort. And Harry had never broken out of character before. He supposed Tom had never done that as well.

The only time Harry ever showed his true nature was when he saw Tom at the library, there were usually not much people around and they were the only ones who visited the library everyday.

When they saw each other, Harry was always careful to stick his tongue out at the alpha, who only smirked at him in return before ignoring him in favor of the big tomes he always reads like a mocking reminder that he was _smarter_ than Harry. It almost made Harry curse the stars for being born two years later than Tom Riddle.

If they were in the same year, Harry was sure he would _crush_ him.

* * *

The first time Tom Riddle saw Harry Potter, Tom was assisting Headmaster Dippet in choosing the next Head Boy when Tom graduates. They were at a classroom when Potter barged in, blushing and unable to meet anyone’s eyes.

Tom saw the exact moment the headmaster softened, as he always did, with students who were troubled. But this one was especially special, a beautiful omega, eyes glistening with tears threatening to fall, and asking the headmaster if he could reconsider changing his grade. He had worked _so hard_ , he said. And it was just _too much_ , _presenting as an omega, the changes, oh Headmaster, I would work double the next semester_ , he pleaded.

The headmaster nodded kindly, unable to resist such an innocent plea, and changed the grade without so much of a question. _My child_ , he said utterly taken by the vulnerability of the omega, _you are doing so well, oh don’t cry now, here, you deserve the highest grade, you do work hard._  

The omega nodded and Tom met his eyes. Tom looked at him blankly, seeing right through the fake tears and the acting, which was good, Tom had to admit. But he was in the process of convincing the headmaster to choose another Slytherin, Lucius, to be the next Head Boy.

The omega looked down right away and said thank you to the headmaster and walked out the door with a grace being born into a pureblood family gave him.

“Ah, omegas,” the headmaster said. “They are incredibly vulnerable. It’s our job to protect them, make them feel safe.”

Tom nodded politely, completely disagreeing in his head, because if there was one omega who did not need protection—it was the Potter heir who used all of his omega prettiness to get what he wanted.

“That one will be trouble,” the headmaster said, surprising Tom. Had the headmaster seen through Harry as well? “So beautiful and innocent, _ah_ , he will be drowned in alpha attention once the courting season begins. 

Nevermind.

“Now, where were we?”

The next time Tom saw the omega was in the library. Harry had tried, adorably, to charm Tom into being one of the endless string of admirers the Gryffindor had—fluttering his eyelashes shyly, blushing like a maiden, and unable to meet Tom’s eyes.

Tom flashed him a smile, and said, “That won’t work on me.”

And he saw the omega drop all his pretenses, red not from blushing but from anger, and pointed at Tom with all the force of a 5’3 omega. “And _that_ ,” he said looking at Tom’s charming smile scathingly. “Won’t work on me."

In which, Tom could only laugh in complete amusement. Harry was so _easy_. He had huffed and walked out of the library in complete frustration. Tom guessed that the Gryffindor was used to getting what he wanted, probably even in Beauxbatons, where he spent his first five years of education. But he was in Hogwarts now, and this was Tom Riddle’s territory.

Since then Tom has taken the time to tease the omega subtly, in what he knows, only the omega can see. The absolute fury he sees in Harry’s eyes because he knows he can’t call Tom out on public was enough ammunition for Tom to keep doing it. 

* * *

“He’s always looking at you,” Ron says, taking a bite of his omelet.

“Who?” Harry asks as he reads the reading assignment Professor McGonagall. 

“Riddle,” Ron says simply.

Harry snorts. “Probably just to annoy me.”

“I just thought, you know,” Ron says nonchalantly. “Maybe you're together or something.”

Harry chokes on his drink and coughs. “Oh my _god_.”

* * *

Harry enters the library with his nose in the air, pointedly ignoring Riddle who looked up the moment he entered just so he could tease him. Harry walked straight to his table, pulled out a rather huge Defense Against the Dark Arts book to shove in Tom’s face that _yes,_ he was smart too, and yes, he can read humongous books as well.

_That’s right,_ Harry thought _. I’m too busy and too good to pay attention to you._

Harry opens the book to where he stashed another book to read. It wasn’t that he didn’t like reading the huge DADA book… it was just… boring and he already knew all of the stuff in it anyway. 

And he wasn’t in the mood. 

He just wanted Tom to see him studying like a proper student so he would take him seriously.

* * *

Tom was pretty sure Harry was reading _Teenage Weekly_ behind that obscenely huge Defense Against the Dark Arts tome he was pretending to read. God knows the boy didn’t need any more help with his outstanding performances on the subject. He was already the teacher’s assistant and he could already construct his own spells.

Tom smirked.

He stood up from his chair and strode towards where the Gryffindor was sitting. He had a little frown on his head as if in deep concentration. He didn’t even look up when Tom went to the shelf behind Harry and took a peek at what Harry was reading.

Ah.

_What Kind of Omega are You According to Your Favorite Bread?_

Tom bit his lip lightly to keep himself from laughing.

He quietly took a few steps towards Harry and leaned forward when he was close enough. 

“ _Harry_ ,” he whispered right beside Harry’s ear.

The omega _jumped,_ an undignified yelp escaping his lips in surprise. His wide eyes looked at Tom in panic and Tom smirked.

Harry glared at him before hitting Tom’s arm with his very, Tom was amused to note, _small_ hand.

“What?!” The omega demanded.

“Feisty,” Tom said looking at Harry with a smirk on his lips. “Because you don’t like bread at all.”

There was a split second when Harry’s face was blank, not totally understanding what Tom was saying, before his cheeks reddened at being caught reading _Teenage Weekly_. And another full second before he blushed even more out of pure anger.

“ _Riddle,”_ he bit out. “I am going to _kill_ you.”

The omega took his magazine angrily and stomped out of the library.

* * *

Harry fumes all the way to the Gryffindor common room. The _bastard_. Why was he so annoying? And why was he teasing Harry all the time? And how on earth did he know Harry didn’t like bread?

Harry huffed angrily.

Oh, what Harry would do to wipe off that perpetual smug look on his face.

Then he stopped in his tracks.

He suddenly remembers what Ron told him in the dining hall this morning.

_Oh_ , what Harry _could_ do… the omega smirked, mischievous plan forming itself into his mind.

Tom Riddle would not know what hit him.

* * *

Harry watches Tom from the corridor. He almost rolls his eyes at the way the alpha was walking. Like he owned the whole goddamn castle. And what made it worse was the omegas and women that were staring quite openly as he walked. He flicks his hair coolly, wavy hair arranging themselves perfectly against his forehead. 

Just _what_ shampoo and conditioner was the alpha using?

Harry shakes his head. Now was _not_ the time. He had a mission.

It would definitely be amusing to _look_ as though they were together or maybe at least hint that something was going on between them.

Tom would not be able to deny him in public. And it would force Tom to act nicer around him if he didn’t want his perfectly charming alpha facade to be shaken. It would turn the tables around. Harry would have the power and then he could look at Tom as if he was absolutely superior to the alpha, like the alpha always looked at him.

He walks towards Tom, pretending to be busy studying. He hits him deliberately and falls gracefully on the floor, yelping loudly to make others look in their direction.

“It-It hurts,” he whined loud enough for the crowd to hear.

Tom Riddle looks at him, one eyebrow subtly up. Y _ou’re not really hurt_.

Harry cried, using all of his omega helplessness for the students surrounding them to see. “M-my leg, it—“

Tom swoops down immediately, gracefully, a picture of a protective alpha. _“Harry,”_ he purrs. Harry instantly regrets his decision. The bastard was planning something. That glint in his eyes. That _stupid_ glint in his eyes. “Come here,” he says, smirk hidden by Harry’s own body, and with one swoop, he carries Harry into his arms bridal style. 

Harry fumes all the way to the infirmary.

If Tom thought Harry was going to give up that easily, he was wrong.

Harry was _not_ yet done.

After fluttering his eyelashes at Lucius Malfoy, telling him he wanted to thank Tom for bringing him in the infirmary, the Malfoy heir finally revealed that Tom liked homebaked treats. Harry had tried his best not to laugh outright, nodding seriously at what the blonde was saying. 

Who would have thought that Slytherin’s heir liked baked goods? 

_But,_ Lucius warned, he was lactose intolerant. Harry only nodded prettily and immediately ran towards the kitchen after talking to Lucius to bake a cake that had too much dairy in it.

He walks towards the Slytherin table that dinner, small and pretty, making the alphas look at him as they passed him. _Good_ , he thought. That would show Tom he had power in Hogwarts as well.

“Tom,” he says as he reaches the Slytherin table, shyly looking at the taller boy. “H-here.” He gives him a small cake wrapped in Gryffindor red and Slytherin green. “As thanks for helping me get to the infirmary. I know y-you like them.”

Harry looks at Tom in the eyes then, and stops the urge to smirk. Tom couldn’t deny him in public. He was Gryffindor’s _darling_. He was an omega. And Tom was Head Boy. Oh this was just _delicious_.

“Harry,” Tom says, voice amused. Harry looks up and sees the same teasing glint in Tom’s eyes. He takes the cake from Harry, hands lingering longer than they should and says, _“Thank you."_  

And Harry’s eyes widen. “Welcome.” he says, looking at the Tom’s _too pleased_ face and wanting to punch it with everything he’s got. “Maybe you want to taste it?” He pushes innocently.

“Alright,” Tom says smugly as he carefully untangles the ribbons. He keeps eye contact with Harry as he raises the cake to his mouth, eyes teasing and amused.

He takes a bite. He chews. And he swallows.

He smiles at Harry, all alpha charm. “This is _delicious_ , Harry.”

“Yes, well,” Harry smiles tightly. “Anything for my rescuer.”

Tom only smiles as he takes another bite, eyes not leaving Harry's.

He _was_ lactose intolerant, wasn’t he?

Harry continued taunting Tom for three months, in which the alpha only smiled at him charmingly, making other omegas near him stumble while talking and walking. They've been meeting everyday because of Harry's insistence and just like Harry anticipated, all of Hogwarts were already whispering about their... _status_. And Harry knew Tom knew. Why the alpha didn't show any signs of being annoyed by Harry's antics and their _dating_ rumors was what really got to the omega.

In the end, Harry could take no more of Tom’s arrogant face. So he did the only thing he could do.

“Harry,” Tom says threateningly. “Imagine what will happen if they see us alone together.”

It was a exactly why he did it anyway, trapped himself with Tom in an empty classroom to taunt him. See a little bit of that annoying perfection crack. Tom wouldn’t like it, being forced in a position that would probably tie him to the omega if they got caught. It was cruel, Harry knew, but… ah, that look on Tom’s face. 

Harry smirks.

“What?” Harry taunts. “Scared of being stuck with a cute little omega all alone, Tom?”

Tom only looks at him. “Harry,” he says as if talking to a child. “If we get caught together, you know what will happen.”

Tom looked so serious that Harry laughed. Who would have thought that the Slytherin King was afraid of being alone with an omega?

“Gryffindor golden child and Slytherin’s heir together?” Harry huffs. “Imagine that.” He snorts.

Then he realizes what that sounds like.

It sounded like they were… like they were… together. _Romantically._

Like they were… _bonded._

His eyes widen and he meets Tom’s eyes in panic.

He pauses.

Tom was looking at him as well.

There was something there, in the way Tom was looking at him... as if he was seeing him for the first time. Like he realized something vital, something important. They look at each other for a while, not talking.

Harry’s face changes from annoyance to... something else. Something softer. “Imagine that,” he repeats softly.

“Yes,” Tom says quietly, looking at Harry as intently as he was looking at him. “Imagine that.”

Nobody talked for a while, the real threat of being alone together without a chaperone, entirely forgotten as they tried to read each other’s eyes. If they were thinking of the same thing, and if anybody dared to utter them out loud.

The sudden sound of footsteps outside breaks them out of their reverie. 

Harry lifts his wand but Tom stops him. 

“Here,” he says, uncharacteristically gentle. “Let me.” He steps in front of Harry and shields the omega from the entrance, and casts a spell that lets them see if the hallway outside is clear. Harry can smell the alpha from his proximity and he feels... feels... lightheaded. Tom turns to him before Harry realizes he was leaning in and stops immediately.

“Harry,” he says, voice deep. “Your scent.”

Harry reaches out to his neck, touching his scent gland in instinct. “What?” He was wearing scent blockers. Were they not working anymore? He was pretty sure he was wearing brand new ones before he cornered Tom.

Tom follows the gesture with his eyes and Harry isn’t sure if he imagines the way the alpha’s eyes darken. For a second, Harry thinks it might really have been dangerous to be alone with Tom like this, and it doesn’t cross his mind that a part of him trusted the alpha enough to be willingly alone with him.

“We have to get out of here,” Tom says suddenly.

“T-Tom,” he says, unsure. Why did he feel dizzy? 

“I’ll see you later,” Tom whispers like a promise as soon as they walk out of the empty classroom and Harry feels, for the the first time, that he can finally breathe again.

Harry’s mind clears as he walks back to his dorm. Was Tom really thinking what he was thinking back then?

Harry’s mind races with possibilities of being with Tom. Of being _with_ Tom.

Tom who commanded all of Hogwarts’ attention, who was as adored as Harry, as respected... And a Slytherin heir at that. Ambitious as he is and knew the kind of life Harry was living. Because he was living the same thing. Harry laughs. Something darker lays under Tom Riddle’s perfect smile. Harry was sure of it.

If Tom was thinking it... then... oh, Harry trembled. An alpha like Tom and an omega like him together.

_Teenage Weekly_ would _die_.

* * *

Harry stares at the library door, knowing the alpha was on the other side, reading like he usually did. He breathes deeply. He needed to know if Tom was thinking the same thing as he did.

What it would mean for Harry, a pureblood omega, who was expected to marry respectably, who was going to compete against other omegas for pureblood alphas.

If… if he got his hands on Tom Riddle, Slytherin’s heir. It was almost too good to be true. Him, a Gryffindor golden child, a Potter, a pureblood omega. And Tom… the epitome of an alpha, a true alpha, an ambitious little bastard who was actually as smart as him.

Why was it suddenly _hot_?

He shook his head and gathered his Gryffindor courage. He wouldn’t know if he didn’t try to ask. And what was the worse that could happen? Tom teasing him about it? He already teased him all the time, anyway.

He pushed the library doors open.

* * *

Tom looks up as soon as the library doors open. _Finally._

The omega wasn’t looking at him, but he was definitely walking to Tom’s table. Tom tries, again, to get a sense of what the omega was thinking. He was chewing his lip uncharacteristically. He’s never seen Harry look so… unsure.

The omega stops in front of him, still not meeting his eyes.

He probably felt uncomfortable from their last encounter. They both acted quite strange. Gentle. And Tom could not forget the way the omega smelled even through his scent blockers. His alpha instincts had flared. And he knew he had to get out as soon as he smelled Harry.

“T-Tom,” the omega finally says, looking at him with wide eyes.

That expression looks real. He doesn’t know if Harry is playing with him or not. Tom couldn’t find it in him to offer the omega even a playful smirk.

“Harry,” he says carefully in acknowledgement, not revealing any emotion in his face.

Harry whimpers. “Don’t do th-that.” Harry pleads. “It scares me.”

Tom instantly relaxes himself. He doesn’t say anything, letting the omega adjust to Tom.

“Did you mean it?” The omega blurts out suddenly.

Tom instantly knows what Harry is thinking. Did Tom mean it? Did Harry mean it?

Tom looks at Harry’s face, looking for any clue as to what the omega might be feeling. His eyes settles on the scent blockers on the omega’s neck. If he could just smell Harry, then…

“Did you?” Tom asks carefully, face unreadable.

The omega blushes. And for the first time, Tom does not know if it was fake or real.

Harry looks down. “I-if you did,” his ears turn red, eyes focused on the floor still. “I-I will s-say yes.”

Then without another word, he _runs away._

Tom blinks. He isn’t quite sure if he heard the omega right.

* * *

There was only a month remaining before Tom graduates.

They haven’t actually… uhm, talked. Formally. About what Harry said. They just nodded quite seriously at each other when they crossed paths.

The way Tom looked at him making Harry… blush. Involuntarily. Which was a new thing. He’d never blushed without his mind’s permission before. All because of Tom motherfucking Riddle. That asshole. Who didn’t even have the courage to talk to Harry, to give him some kind of answer, or assurance, or even rejection.

At least if he did any of those things Harry could have a piece of mind and move on. But who was stupid enough to reject Harry Potter? If he rejected Harry, then he’d be the stupidest alpha on earth. He should see what Harry was offering him. What them being together would mean. What benefits they could reap from it.

Harry enters the library and nods tightly at Tom. He goes to his usual spot and doesn’t even bother covering up his Teenage Weekly magazine. The alpha already knew what he was doing anyway, and he needed to relax today. He flipped to the gossip column.

“Not even bothering to hide it from me now, Harry?” Tom’s teasing voice jolts Harry. “I’m impressed.”

“What do you want?” Harry says, annoyed. Maybe it was like second nature to be snippy where Tom was concerned. Especially if he was teasing Harry.

“I meant it,” Tom says casually, as if he was talking about something as serious as… a wedding. A bonding. Like they weren’t just two ambitious people who liked to be the best and be with the best. And they were. 

Harry doesn’t know what to say. He just looks at Tom and Tom looks at him.

“After you graduate,” was all Tom said before Harry found himself nodding almost too eagerly. 

“Yes,” he whispers. “After I graduate." 

Tom nods and he goes back to his seat.

Tom graduates with the highest marks ever given to a student.

They don’t talk again.

But they write letters. Long letters. 

Tom telling Harry about his new job at the ministry. And Harry telling Tom about being in the running for graduating at the top his class. It’s all very civil and friendly until Harry snaps and accidentally writes— _it is not the same without you_. Hoping it was not too sappy and didn’t sound too much like an ‘I miss your pert ass teasing me in the hallways’. Harry would _die_ before he admitted he missed Tom, teasing Tom, and fighting with Tom.

Tom replied the next day and he writes about the omegas in the ministry. _And,_ Harry blushes just remembering how Tom worded it, _none of them comes remotely close to you._ Harry found himself grinning stupidly for a whole week every time he remembered it.

Harry wrote to him the very same day about his alpha admirers and how he pays them no mind. _You see, I am already promised to an alpha like no other,_ he writes. And instantly doubts himself. That maybe it was too much. But he sends it anyway, before he can change his mind.

They write back and forth, flirting shamelessly, and Harry marvels at how eloquent and charming Tom is in paper as he is in person.

To be promised to someone like Tom filled him with a sense of omega pride. Tom picked him. Tom wanted him as _his_ omega. When he could have any other omega in the world that he wanted. 

It was _exhilarating_. Harry has never felt anything like it.

They do not see each other again. Harry focuses on his schoolwork, improves his mind and widens his invented spells. Tom widens his social circle, making allies and political friends in his time at the ministry.

Harry graduates at the top of his class almost beating Tom’s record for highest marks ever received by a student. Harry think maybe if he didn’t read _Teenage Weekly_ too much…

Tom becomes an Undersecretary.

They finally see each other again. At a ministry ball. Harry’s debut as an eligible omega. His scent gland bared for everyone to see his purity. 

Harry wears his best robes, green, as they should be, as his house colors will be in the future. It brings out his eyes. Makes him look twice as expensive.

He walks prettily as the alphas stare at him, omegas too in obvious jealousy. His hand is in the arm of his father, James. Lily was at his father’s right side. They look like a force to be reckoned with. James, a Head Auror, an alpha… and Lily, his mother, where Harry got most of his good looks from.

A powerful family with an eligible omega son.

Harry can see the other pureblood families make a quick mental calculation at their head. What a marriage with the Potter family meant. How pretty Harry was. How powerful the Potter name was. 

But all of them wouldn’t stand a chance against Tom. Slytherin’s very own direct heir.

Speaking of the devil… Harry sees a tall figure in the middle of the ball, surrounded by simpering omegas and admiring alphas alike. Tom is charming and perfect. He makes them laugh and engages them in conversation, not making anyone feel left out. Harry heart stops beating in his chest, he suddenly remembers their letters and everything they’ve written.

That was going to be his alpha. All the perfection, that charm, that grace. That was going to be Harry’s. And he is suddenly filled with a rush of possessiveness. 

Then, as if Tom felt the magnitude of Harry's feelings, his eyes seek Harry almost instantly.

Their eyes meet. 

He nods lightly and so does Harry. The alpha looks at what he’s wearing and Harry does not miss the look of approval in his eyes. Harry almost purrs. 

They excuse themselves from their acquaintances and make their way slowly towards each other. Harry blushes. Tom smiles charmingly, kissing his hand, leaving a pleasant burning sensation to where his lips touched the back of his palm.

“Three ministry balls,” Tom whispers so quietly Harry almost doesn’t hear him.

“Okay,” Harry whispers just as lightly.

On the third ministry ball, Harry corners Tom into an empty room outside the ministry ball. He’s waited long enough, and played his part, flirted with Tom, and blushed prettily when Tom sought him out to dance.

This was the day he was going to get his alpha.

* * *

Tom’s smirk is smug as he visits his fiancée the next day after he proposed in public. Which Harry enjoyed so much, revealing in all the attention everyone gave him. His fiancée. His omega.

Tom still can’t get used to the sight Harry made in Slytherin colors which Harry had been wearing more because he said, as a matter-of-factly, that he was going to be wife to the most Slytherin Slytherin there ever was. It fit him. He has always been more of a Slytherin than a Gryffindor. And it always made Tom want to _bite_ the omega to let everyone know that Harry was his.

Harry frowns when he sees him in their drawing room, acting adorably annoyed when even Tom could feel how excited the omega really was. 

“I have a present for you,” Tom says smugly enjoying the way Harry immediately dropped all his pretenses and became instantly interested. 

“Another present?” Harry asks. Tom knew Harry wasn’t expecting the Gaunt family heirloom as his engagement ring but ah, to see the family crest on Harry’s finger as his mark of ownership stroked Tom’s ego _very_ much, and to see the way Harry all but _glowed_ when Tom put the ring on his finger, sealing the omega's own claim on the alpha. Tom didn't miss the way Harry would casually arrange his hair with the hand that had the engagement ring every time they came across an omega while they're walking together.

Tom hands him a piece of paper and Harry frowns, obviously expecting something more extravagant.

He opens it and his eyes widen. “Oh my _god,”_ he looks at Tom in disbelief and unbridled happiness. “We made it in the front page of _Teenage Weekly_!” 

 

> **_SLYHTERIN HEIR RIDDLE AND DARLING DEBUTANTE POTTER ENGAGED!_ **  
> 
> It did not escape this writer’s notice that last night was brimming with utter excitement as finally, the Senior Undersecretary, Tom Riddle and the highly beloved pureblood heir Harry Potter are engaged!
> 
> Tom Riddle surprised everybody at the Ministry Ball by taking out a rather obscenely priceless ring—that yes, _is_ the Gaunt ring—and presented it to England’s favorite debutante. Like being extraordinarily attractive is not good enough a reason for the Potter heir to say yes to him. And let’s not forget that Tom’s courting gift was Salazar Slytherin’s very own locket—

Harry folds the paper and faces Tom with a big grin on his face.

“I can’t believe _I’m_ in Teenage Weekly!” Harry sighs dramatically. “This is the best present _ever_.”

“Even better than Slytherin’s locket and the Gaunt ring?” Tom asks amused. 

“Yes!” Harry says as he bounces towards Tom stretching his arms out like a child in a manner that Tom learned was the omega’s way of saying _hold me_. He does, the alpha in him can’t resist the invitation. Harry stands on his tiptoes as he takes a deep inhale of Tom’s scent.

It was improper, to be scenting like this, but one time Tom had gone to the Potter manor in one of his customary calls as he was courting Harry, and the omega had looked distressed the moment he saw Tom.

The chaperones in the house had been at loss what to do when the omega started crying. Tom had gone to him in an instant and asked what was wrong. In a trembling voice he said Tom smelled like other omegas and it was causing him stress. 

Tom had lifted his eyebrow at Harry because he was pretty much sure he didn’t mingle with omegas that day but Harry had only looked at him in what he was _sure_ was fake innocence until the chaperones said that maybe he should try scenting Tom.

Tom saw the flash of mischief in Harry’s eyes before he carefully scented the alpha. And ever since then it was a lost cause for both of them, not quite getting enough of each other.

Tom growls lightly, tilting Harry’s own head so he can take his fill as well. Now that they were engaged, the omega didn’t bother to wear scent blockers anymore. Harry purrs in his arms, contented, nuzzling happily into Tom’s neck.

“It's good I decided to corner you in that classroom, huh, Tom?” Harry says, tone teasing and smug.

“Yes, after you made me eat that God-awful cake,” Tom murmurs into his ear.

Harry pulls him closer and pouts. “Maybe it’s you who planned all that. I'm just a sweet little omega. God knows you would have planted some ideas and my head and deliberately teased me so I’d trap us both without a chaperone—“

Tom laughs. “ _Harry_ ,” he says amusedly. “Only you would think of such diabolical plans. I may be a Slytherin but I put my strategical brilliance to things that actually matter.”

“So you mean I don’t matter?” Harry asks in childishly.

“You do,” Tom assures him. “Why do you think I let you lock me up in classroom with you?”

Harry pulls away from Tom to look at him with wide unbelieving eyes. “Y-you what?”

“I could have easily unlocked that door, Harry,” Tom says with a smirk, pulling back the omega flush against him. “And we both know I can easily overpower you.”

Harry does not make a sound. Then his face changes from disbelief to annoyance.

“You really are a right bastard, you know that?” Harry says as he leans in towards Tom for a kiss. The alpha obliges, kissing him thoroughly in the mouth. Harry melts and he whimpers when Tom kisses his scent gland.

“Stop making noises like that,” Tom chastises, tugging at Harry's hair in light punishment. Harry only looks at him innocently. “I might be the one who corners you into one of these empty rooms this time," Tom's eyes are dark and his voice drops. "And trust me when I say you won’t be walking out as untainted as you did the other times.”

**Author's Note:**

> THIS was actually the romantic comedy I was talking about... but... it turned into just romance? IDK! This is my longest fic to date and as usual... Do I feel satisfied? Not at all.
> 
> This idea originally came with me wanting a scene where Harry kinda forces Tom to be with him by tempting him with his scent. Mostly because he's so impatient that Tom isn't doing anything because uhm duh, they're obviously attracted to each other and can you imagine if a Gryffindor and a Slytherin got together and bonded? _PLEASE._
> 
> Anyways, I am pretty sure I have 14 loyal readers who comment on every story I upload. I know you guys. I know you and I see you and I love you and you inspire me. Thank you so much for your continued support. You warm my heart.
> 
> PS. Anyways, I made a [Tumblr](http://www.temptresslove.tumblr.com) account for my ao3, but it's a sideblog so if I reply to you with my personal blog aka [trashylit](http://www.trashylit.tumblr.com) aka the messiest blog ever, don't be surprised. You'll find a ton shit of Game of Thrones on my personal blog so... WHO ELSE IS EXCITED FOR S8?! I mean D&D will probably butcher it like they did in S7 but beggars can't be choosers. HAHAHA!


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